A Long Breath
by Mitsuki Horenake
Summary: Media equals fame, and fame equals jealousy. And no matter what anyone says, jealousy can get a little too far.


**An actual Vocaloid fanfic! This is Gakupo x Luka, so if you don't like, don't read. Or read anyway. I don't know how bored you are, so…yeah.**

**I DO NOT OWN THE VOCALOID SERIES.**

**------**

It was another day in rehearsal…again. Luka walked around the stage, clipboard in hand, making sure that everything was going as planned. The twins, of course, were running around the area, dodging Meiko's attempts to catch them and Kaito was checking the lights. Miku was experimenting on the drums, and Kinsora was with Gakupo, checking on the microphone.

"Can you hear me now?" He asked.

"Sorta." Kinsora made a note. "OK, sing one of your lyrics."

"With pleasure." He grinned, glancing at Luka with a wink and a sparkle in his eyes.

She rolled her eyes. He had _such_ an ego going on with him. And since he had some form of charm with him, he seriously thought that he could get any woman that he wanted. What was even more annoying was that he would hit any anything with boobs, and Luka was clearly no exception. She didn't know why he would do that. He was annoying when he hits on her. Then again, he doesn't have to. He was pretty attractive. Not to mention that he had a good singing voice…

Wait. Did she actually just _think_ that?!

On sheer coincidence, Gakupo was singing "Dancing Samurai" into the mic. She didn't know why he even wrote that song, because it was hinting on his "dancing skills". She didn't even know if he could actually dance at all. Clearly, they couldn't count his samurai skills as a _**dance**_, right? It was a fighting art, and fighting arts are not DANCES.

"So…what about it?" Gakupo grinned.

"We…we _**really**_ need to lower down the volume if you're going to hit that note." Kinsora rubbed her ears. "But it was good."

"That's good to hear." He turned to Luka. "I hope you liked it, my strawberry!"

"Whatever…" Luka rolled her eyes. "By the way, have you guys seen Kaname Teto? She's supposed to be here for the finale duet!"

"I just got off the phone with her." Kaito answered. "She's in traffic, but she'll be here in a while."

_**Good.**_ Luka thought. _Maybe now we could actually get something done around here._

**------**

The ride home was always the same thing: Kinsora was to leave first, so that the media wouldn't get a glimpse of her and believe that she was just part of the crews. About half an hour after that, the seven of them would leave in the same car. Every time they leave, Gakupo and Meiko were in charge of getting the media attention before the car was ready to leave.

_Least he's good for something._ Luka grumbled in her mind.

"Oh, it's Megurine Luka!" A media announcer called. "Please, can I just have one quick question!"

She grabbed her arm, which startled the young woman. She was about to pull away when she saw, from the corner of her eye, Gakupo sweep in from _**wherever the heck**_ he came from and gently pull the hand off of her arm. He looked up to the announcer with a usual charming smile, which shocked her.

"I'm sorry miss, but we're in a hurry, as you can see." He said simply. "We have to be on our way."

"Oh…" She stuttered, clearly charmed. "Uh…O-OK. You guys better be on your way then."

With a grin, Gakupo held Luka's shoulders and slowly led her into the limo/car that they had. Once she was safely inside, he was able to pull in Meiko. They quickly drove out of there, must to the chasings of the media, waiting for answers. Unknown to any of them, they barely noticed a dark figure from the shadows slink back into the building.

**------**

"Hey, Kaito, I have a question."

Kaito looked up from watching the TV to see a confused Len walking toward him. With a grin, he sat up and turned off the TV, his full attention on this young boy. Len looked startled for a few seconds _(Kaito was watching his favorite TV show and it was a new episode)_, but then shook his head.

"Sure. What can I help you with?" He asked.

"Actually…I don't get something." Len rubbed the back of his head. "It's about Gakupo."

"Oh, that's easy to explain." Kaito turned completely to him. "It's perfectly OK if you have mixed feelings on him."

"Mixed…?" Len gasped. "No, not like that! I'm not like that!!!"

"Oh, is that so?" A voice said from behind him. "I won't be offended if my masculine charm had such an effect on a young man such as yourself."

Len nearly screamed, but jumped when the hand of Gakupo landed on his shoulder. His finger slowly started to trail down his cheekbone, which finally made him unable to contain his shock. He screamed like a nutcase and jumped into Kaito's arms, much to Gakupo's entertainment.

"GAKUPO! What the heck was that about?!" Len growled.

"I'm just giving you a taste of the real world, my dear boy." He answered with a trademark grin. "You'll always have fans of _both_ genders going after you. You just have to deal with both of them."

"And I don't suppose they'll be that close to do something like that to him, am I correct?"

Everyone looked up to see Luka come out of her room. She passed the three of them with grace and went into the kitchen, popping at least three candies in her mouth before pulling out a lollipop. Suddenly, the light in Gakupo's eyes began to get brighter, and his grin began to grow wider.

"Oh, my hunny!" He chirped. "You're finally out of your room! I was worried that something might've happened to you!"

"I was reading, as always." She answered simply. "And I was writing lyrics. I don't have enough songs for the performance, and I wanted to finish at least two more before they finalize the songlist."

"_Actually, my question is about Gakupo and Luka."_ Len whispered to Kaito. _"Why is he so…pushy, around her?"_

"_I'm…not sure."_ Kaito answered.

Nonetheless, they decided to hide behind the couch until his question had been answered.

"So much work for a young lady such as yourself." Gakupo approached her. "Why won't you allow me to help you?"

"Because I can handle myself." Luka grumbled. "And besides, I'm sure you have a couple of other 'hunnies' that need a lot more help than me."

"Oh, that's when you're wrong." He said. "I have a lot of fans, and even more girls…but I only have one 'hunny'…"

Luka turned to him with confusion, and saw that he had a sincere smile on his face. It was a strange smile, not like he was about to hit on her or anything. It was more of a friendship kind of smile. A smile that he really meant. Shocked and confused, she panicked and ran back into her room, leaving her lollipop on the counter. Gakupo merely walked to it and picked it up, staring as Luka slammed the door behind her. Sighing, he walked back into his room to recharge. Kaito and Len peeked up from where they hid and looked at each other, their question still not answered.

**------**

He couldn't take living in his shadow anymore.

It took him months to learn all of the information that he needed for this one night. It took him even longer to find out where he was living out. He felt his fingers rub against each other. He was created to be his equal, to be a being perhaps even better than he could ever be. Why then, was he brutally discarded and left to rot in the dumpster?!

Well, no more!

With a grin in his mouth, he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. Soon, there would be no more "failure". He would be the original. He would be the only one!

**------**

Gakupo sighed as he closed the door behind him. He felt like heck, his mind throbbing with confusion and his joints going nuts.

_What am I doing wrong?_ He thought. _Geez…a "couple of other hunnies", she says. And here I thought I was doing something right._

He walked over to his desk and looked at the small image that was there. It was the first picture that they took when they woke up in Kinsora's care. As always, he was taking up most of the camera, competing with the twins for more room. Poor Kaito was stomped somewhere, so he wasn't in the picture. As for Kinsora, she was stuck in the middle wondering how this actually happened.

"Good times." He chuckled. "Man, what I would do to go back then and change all the mistakes that I've done."

"_Oh really? Then I'll go back with you and rewrite the mistakes that I've had."_

He looked up and darted his head around, his eyes catching darkness with no movement. But he wouldn't dare to doubt his ears. With a quick swish of his wrist, he grabbed his katana and got ready for a counter. And he was right. Barely had he had the time to pull out his blade that another had come from the darkness and attacked. The sound of clanging blades rang throughout the room.

"Not bad…" His attacker grinned. "I guess that's just how good you really are…concerning that you are an original…"

"…Tekuno Hirane…" Gakupo gasped. "It really is you…"

"So you do remember me. That's good. At least now you'll know who would be taking your place!"

Tekuno threw him back, startling Gakupo, and he took up the opportunity to karate-chop his neck. The purple samurai crumbled down to the ground. With a grin, Tekuno lifted him up and carried him to his recharging chamber, watching as the wires came out from their hiding places and placed themselves onto his arms, legs, and mind. The computer at his feet began to glow, signaling that he was now charging. Tekuno walked up to the computer and pulled out his own PDA, plugging it into the computer.

"_And now…"_ He muttered. _"I will be the new Kamui Gakupo…the better one…"_

**------**

Despite the fact that she had to recharge for tomorrow's rehearsal, something was bothering her. And that meant that there was something terribly wrong, since she would never wake up just because of a small "problem". With a yawn, Luka pulled herself out of her chamber and pushed herself out of her room. Looking around, she saw that the house was perfectly normal.

_Just in case…I better check the kitchen…_ She thought. _For all I know, she learned how to drink quietly. Even though that's impossible._

She walked to the kitchen as quietly as she could, and flipped the light on. Odd enough, the kitchen and living room were quiet and untouched. And when she opened the fridge, all of the alcoholic drinks _(that Kinsora and Miku both hid)_ were still hidden, perfectly untouched. In fact, they were unopened, much to her disbelief.

_Great. I woke up because of a misconception._ She grumbled. _I'm going back to sleep._

She walked slowly back to her room. For some odd reason, she found herself stopping in front of Gakupo's room. After a few minutes of staring, she decided that she was going crazy and began to walk away. Suddenly, she heard a thud from inside the room.

_He's awake too?_

She reached over, willing to knock, but decided that wouldn't be a great idea. Instead, she opted to open the door already. What shocked her was that the door wouldn't accept the opening codes. Luka bit her lip, her instincts getting sharper and sharper. She started punching code after code, hoping that, somehow, she would get inside the room.

_C'mon…c'mon! Why won't the damn codes __**work!?**_

She had the image of a dismembered Gakupo in her mind, which scared her, pushing her to make up more codes. Before she knew it, she typed up the most random name that she came up with, and the door opened.

**------**

All anyone remembered was the scream of Megurine Luka.

Everyone jumped up from where they were sleeping and ran toward her location, noticing her shaking frame in front of Gakupo's open door. They ran to the door and peeked in, seeing a man _(who looked like a hacker)_ typing something into a PDA attached to Gakupo's main computer.

"Tekuno Hirane…" Meiko growled. "Why won't you ever stop?"

"It's too late now. My PDA's the fastest computer ever created to man." He stood. "I'm done here. Now, if you excuse me."

The wire connecting the PDA with the main computer snapped off and connected back into the PDA, and then he ran toward the window. Everyone jumped at his random action. But what shocked everyone was Miku's run toward the main computer.

"He's deleting Gakupo's mental data!" She panicked. "He's killing him!"

"That's right!" Tekuno grinned, "I suggest you retitle that single of yours as The Disappearance of Kamui Gakupo!"

"No one panic!" Kinsora stepped forward. "Kaito, call the police! The rest of you make sure he doesn't escape!"

Kaito darted out of the room toward the nearest phone, quickly passing a shivering Luka. Rin charged toward Tekuno, forcing him to jump out of the window _(which Len conveniently opened. Why, I don't know)_. He grinned at his so-called "escape", but froze at the image of Meiko falling with him. She punched him so hard his lights went out, and reached her arm up. Like that, Miku hovered down _(her hair was spinning rapidly like helicopter blades…who knew)_ and grabbed the both of them, pulling them back up to Kinsora's apartment.

"I will never understand how Miku does that." Len looked out of the window.

"I don't think anyone knew he can do that." Rin added, looking out as well.

They got out of the way just as Miku hovered over the ground, placing Meiko and Tekuno on the ground first. She landed last and dusted herself as Len closed the window. Kaito came in with the phone in his hand and watched as Meiko tied Tekuno up to the wall.

"He won't be doing anything now." She grinned.

"Uh…OK…" Kaito lifted the phone to his ear. "Yeah, we got him……no, he's out….get over here anyway."

"Kinsora…what about Gakupo?" Luka asked, worry in her voice. "Can you save him?!"

"This isn't good…" Kinsora was typing hard into the computer. "He already deleted the majority of Gakupo's mental capacities. He won't be able to live off that alone…"

"So…he's…" Rin was near the verge of tears.

"Hold on. It looks like he didn't do a thorough job on it. He didn't defragment it…yes!" Kinsora began typing as hard as she could. "I think I can save him!"

"Save him how?" Len stood up.

"Tekuno did delete the data, but he didn't fully delete it. I should be able to tap into that part and reconstruct him." Kinsora looked at the screen. "But the data at that form is still pretty small. If pure logic applies here, that means that much data still isn't enough to keep him alive."

"Do it anyway!" Luka yelled. "Any chance of him living should be worth taking!"

Kinsora didn't have to complain or offer otherwise. She was still typing in commands as hard as she could. Everyone else could only watch as their master did all she could to save one of their own. The twins clung close to each other white anchoring themselves onto Kaito's jacket.

"Hey, Kaito." Miku looked up. "What did Kinsora mean when she said that Tekuno deleted the date but didn't fully delete it?"

"It's the same concept of the recycle bin and defragmentation." He turned to her. "In other words, to fully delete something from a computer, you have to send it to the recycle bin, empty the bin, and then defragment it to get rid of all the pieces of scattered data. Tekuno only did two of the three steps, so the data's still there."

"So she can save him!" She chirped.

"It's a possibility, but it's a small chance that he'll be exactly as he would be."

The small position of hope slowly popped as they all thought of a world without Gakupo at their side. Luka found herself crying and shaking at the possibility, but she couldn't figure out why that would be. It was then that Kinsora took a deep breath and pressed one small key. The chamber door opened, smoke coming out, and everyone held their breath.

"I did it…I saved him." Kinsora grinned.

Everyone watched as Gakupo slowly opened his eyes and sat up from his position. His eyes wandered around him, to all of his family members, with a strange sense of blankness in his face. The twins bit their lips with the realization that they didn't want to accept.

"He doesn't remember us…" Meiko gasped. "He doesn't…remember us…"

They started to cry slowly to themselves, holding each other as he watched them with confusion. His eyes turned to see a shaking Luka, which caught everyone's attention. It was almost startling how scared she looked, like a fragile child, which was odd since she was the most serious and strong of the family. She bit her lip and walked up to him, pushing a smile.

"Gakupo…" She looked at him. "Do you know who I am? I'm Megurine Luka. I'm a friend. Is this…ringing any bells for you?"

She bit her lip and looked at his face, hoping that he would somehow remember at least one of them. Heck, she wouldn't mind if he would remember Meiko. They did hang out a lot. But just like before, he had a blank face. In fact, he looked startled from her approach.

_He doesn't remember…he…he's gone…_

She found herself crying, her heart aching, and sobbed on the side of the chamber, everyone watching. Through her tears, she felt a small tap on top of her forehead. Looking up, she saw that Gakupo had tapped her head, and he was smiling. He had the same smile that he had before.

"Man, you're gullible." He chuckled. "You've got to learn not believe everything."

Everyone was shocked that he was faking it. Unfortunately, Meiko was there.

"Oh…you are so dead…" She grumbled.

Everyone jumped on him with the thought of extracting sheer revenge on the purple samurai. Luka wanted to get in there as well, but there didn't seem to be any room. After the anger quickly died down, they all embraced him, crying tears of joy. Through the entire family, Gakupo was able to squeeze through them and meet eye-to-eye with Luka. He pulled his hand out.

"You forgot this earlier." He said.

She looked at what he was holding and almost broke down crying again.

It was a lollipop.

**------**

"Is it morning?" Rin looked up. "I can't tell anymore."

"It's morning." Kinsora grinned. "A good morning, I might add. Everyone's still alive, right?"

"I hope so." Len looked at everyone. "By the way, what happened to Tekuno?"

"He's under deep investigation. But with our testimony and the media going around, he'll be in deep shame for a long time"

The twins walked down to the kitchen and grabbed fruit slices before settling on the living room couch. Meiko, Kaito and Miku stumbled into the kitchen as well, grabbing their food from the kitchen and made sure the twins wouldn't squirt juice as each other and ruin the white couch. Suddenly, a strange twinkle echoed in their ears, and Gakupo walked into the living quarters.

"Good morning, sweet world." He smiled, seeing Luka pass him. "Oh, morning darling!"

"Don't _**darling**_ me." She stated with her secure tone. "You need to tune your seriousness on the concert rehearsal, you got that?"

"No problem." He conveyed.

"Good." She walked away from him into the kitchen, much to his dismay.

"_Is he at it again?"_ Kinsora shook her head.

"_Poor guy."_ The twins looked at each other.

However, unknown to the other Vocaloids and their master, both of them were smiling secretly.

**------**

**Yeah, this was undeniably long. I was planning on making it shorter, but this is what happened. I still liked it! Oh yeah, about Tekuno Hirane, I have seen him on Vocaloid Wiki and had successfully gotten web pages on Google, so I'm pretty sure he's real. But if I'm wrong…well…I couldn't find a better enemy, so…yeah.**


End file.
